The world has found itself dependent on the Internet, which powers everything, from emergency rooms and election systems to global supply chains and banking infrastructure. Cybersecurity is no longer just a technical concern. It’s a matter of national resilience and global economic stability.
Yet, despite daily headlines about ransomware attacks, phishing campaigns, and infrastructure outages, the world remains dangerously complacent. Individuals, businesses, and governing entities alike often operate under the illusion that the internet ‘just works’ until it doesn’t.
When disruptions occur, they aren’t just inconvenient. They’re deeply consequential. The cyberattacks of 2024 show exactly that. The UnitedHealth’s Change Healthcare division cyberattack led to widespread medical delays and a ripple effect on the stock market. A software issue involving CrowdStrike grounded flights and stalled operations across multiple industries.
These events exposed a hard truth: the global economy is built on digital infrastructure that is far more fragile than people care to admit. “We live in a world of digital dependence, but not digital preparedness,” says Philip Reitinger, President and CEO of the Global Cyber Alliance (GCA). “Cybersecurity is not just a technology issue. It’s an economic and well-being issue with global implications.”
Much of the malicious activity that threatens the Internet doesn’t make headlines. Attacks happen quietly: automated bots probe systems, stolen credentials circulate on the dark web, and malware using cloud infrastructure launches coordinated attacks. This ongoing digital pollution impacts not only the victims but also the very health and trustworthiness of the Internet itself.
To highlight and confront this issue, GCA recently launched the Internet Pollution Index, an initiative to measure and map malicious activity flowing across global networks. The results are sobering. Some organizations, including well-known cloud service providers, unknowingly emit harmful traffic, acting as launchpads for attacks against others.
“Cybercrime has become so automated, so widespread, that many networks are both victims and unwitting accomplices,” Reitinger explains. “We need more visibility and accountability to break this cycle.”
The Common Good Cyber initiative (spearheaded by GCA) has long been at the forefront of strengthening cybersecurity worldwide. In March, the group announced a critical effort to establish a joint fund mechanism for nonprofit organizations at the Bridging the Gap event.
Together with a growing network of nonprofits, corporate enterprises, and governing entities, GCA is working to safeguard the foundational components of the internet, including routing, domain names, IP address hygiene, and more. These efforts are often behind the scenes but vital. They help small businesses stay afloat, enable civil society groups to operate safely, and protect the digital backbone of democratic institutions. But they face an uphill battle.
“There’s only so much nonprofits and NGOs can do on their own,” says Reitinger. “The hard truth is that cybersecurity for the common good requires much more investment from governing bodies, the private sector, and civil society.”
The consequences of underinvesting in cybersecurity aren’t abstract. They’re felt in economic losses, eroded trust, and the disruption of essential services. From hospitals unable to access patient records to small businesses locked out of their systems, the damage is both personal and systemic.
In fact, the situation has gotten so severe that the cost of global cybercrime is expected to reach an annual cost of $10.5 trillion by 2025, with the average cost of individual breaches averaging around $4.9 million. However, this is far from simply a problem for organizations as its impact reaches everyday citizens. It was reported that a single data breach leaked the information of over 1.3 million US citizens in 2024, many of whom were none the wiser that their names, social security numbers, and home addresses were being sold to the highest bidder on the dark web.
And it’s not just about being a target. Some networks are already part of the problem without knowing it. According to GCA’s sensor network, malicious traffic emerges from every region, targeting every IPv4 port 24/7. “Every network has a responsibility not just to protect itself but to ensure it’s not unintentionally harming others,” says Reitinger. “We need active collaboration, not passive protection.”
GCA’s Internet Integrity Program builds on that spirit. By collaborating with key players in Internet infrastructure operations, the program aims to create a practical, scalable blueprint for better security across borders.
Cybersecurity cannot be treated as an afterthought or a private burden. It is a cornerstone of economic growth, public trust, and national security. And as cyber threats grow more sophisticated, the only viable path forward is one built on collective responsibility and sustained collaboration.
That includes empowering the nonprofits doing the essential, and often invisible, work of defending the Internet. Collaboration means governing bodies recognizing their role not just in protecting their own infrastructure, but in supporting the public interest across the broader ecosystem. And collaboration means acknowledging that when it comes to cyber risk, everyone is in this together.
In the end, Reitinger concludes, “The internet we created belongs to all of us. And if we want to keep it safe, accessible, and reliable, then we all have a role to play in protecting it.”
The post The Silent Cyber Crisis Alarming Global Economies and Why It’s Time for Collective Action appeared first on International Business Times.
